Risk is typically perceived as a fear that requires a certain courageous personality to overcome. We are often categorized by ourselves or others as being risk-averse or risk-seeking and lead our lives accordingly. The risk-averse person seems destined to lead a stable but perhaps unextraordinary life while those who are risk-seeking will either crash and burn or be wildly successful.

Unfortunately, many people live according to their own risk profile, not realizing that they may be missing out on wonderful opportunities. By not knowing how to take smarter risks, you're likely limiting your potential. But how do you take risks in a way that doesn't make it feel like you're gambling with your life?

First, recognize that everything you do has risk - from crossing the street to texting to putting on pants (one of my toddlers suffered a torque fracture when he fell putting on his pants - *sigh*). We label something as "risky" when it is above our personal risk threshold. If the activity falls below this threshold, we see it as normal. Much of the advice we've heard centers around bypassing your threshold, which is a dangerous thing to do. "Just do it" may sometimes work out but can also be catastrophic especially if the risk is high.

To help bring to life the tips you're about to learn, imagine you are standing at the edge of a steep canyon and leaping across to the other side is the risk you would like to take.

Depending on your fear of heights, your experience with leaping across canyons, and other relevant factors, you have a personal threshold for how risky you think this leap will be. You can increase this personal threshold if you have a compelling reason for why you want to get across to the other side. For example, if it was just part of your vacation hike, your risk threshold might be much lower than if you were being chased by a bear. In many cases, the risk threshold you have is dependent on factors outside of your control such as the specific situation, your personality, other people's actions, etc.

To be a smarter risk taker, consider these 3 practical actions to reduce the risk of the task at hand to below your risk threshold:

De-Risk the Actual Task

Whenever you can, look to remove risks to achieving your outcome. If your goal is to get across to the other side of the canyon, you will want to walk along the edges of the canyon and find the area where the edges are closest together. You may also consider the possibility of building a bridge as opposed to jumping over. The idea is to find different ways to remove the risk you're seeing.

For a work-related example, if you're about to give a presentation at a high-profile conference, can you control where you are on the agenda so you're not following the best speaker or going right after lunch? Can you make sure you get in a day or two before your presentation so you won't be stressed with travel issues? Perhaps you can get an attendee list so you're not surprised by any unexpected senior leaders walking into your presentation and potentially rattling you.

De-risking is usually the most intuitive of the three tips so hopefully, many of you are already doing this.

Build a Safety Net or Buffer

In the canyon leaping example, the leap will seem less risky to you if there is a safety net below you.

To build your buffer, first identify what's at risk. What are you actually going to lose if this doesn't pan out? In many cases, you may realize that there isn't really much at stake.

For example, if you’re looking to join a startup after a 15-year career at a Fortune 50 company, what will you lose if the startup fails? Perhaps you might lose financially and have to worry about paying your bills and supporting your family. Maybe it will hurt your professional trajectory causing you to fall behind your peer group. Maybe your ego will take a beating when everyone judges your decision as stupid and reminding you of their advice not to leave your job.

Once you understand what is at risk the next step is to figure out how to protect against the downside of that risk.

Using the same example, if you’re worried about your ability to pay your bills and take care of your family, create a plan to save more and reduce living expenses so you can go for 2+ years without income. If you don’t want to lower your professional trajectory, assess how this startup experience can boost your trajectory even if the startup fails. Perhaps you can build a wider professional network or gain skills that you could not get at your current job. Another way to build a safety net is to either persuade your current company to buy the startup or start a similar division within your company. Lastly, as for your ego getting hurt, you might want to invest in other areas of your life so it won't be the end of the world if work doesn't go well. Being a part of an accomplished sports team or music group or coming home to a fantastic family can help you be more resilient. If you're afraid of your ego getting bruised, keeping your venture a secret from others can also help.

Increase Your Competence

If leaping is what you need to do to get across the canyon, the more skill and training you have, the less risky the task will seem. When you build up experience and expertise in the exact task needed, it won't seem as risky to you as someone looking at the situation without your expertise. A great visual example is the tight rope photo for this article. For an experienced tight rope walker, the activity depicted may seem less risky than to our untrained eye.

In a professional context, if you're thinking of taking a role in a different country, it's hard to not see it as risky if you haven't done it before. If this is a goal of yours, you may be able to reduce your risk by taking on a three-month international project or to work on a cross-border team. These experiences will help you understand the nuances of working effectively across cultures. You may also want to speak with others who have made this leap to get a road map for making the transition. Sometimes having a guide is enough to reduce the risk to below your threshold (for example - climbing Mount Everest).

Taking smarter risks is not about mustering the courage to "just do it". It’s about actively managing your relationship to risk. You can de-risk the situation, create a buffer to limit your downside, or train to increase your competence.

You can apply these risk mitigation tips to all areas of your life - career, relationships, sports, academic research, etc. It's generally agreed that more risk leads to more reward. By using these tips to take risks comfortably, we hope it will lead to a more rewarding life for you.

What's a risk you want to take but is right now above your threshold? Which one of these tips can you use today to bring you closer to taking a smart risk and live a life without regrets?

Photo by Leio McLaren (@leiomclaren)

The post 3 Ways to be a Smarter Risk Taker appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

... looking back.

Reflect on 2013 - what were the major highlights and disappointments?

Take time to celebrate both your successes and failures.  Successes confirm that your skills and plan were on point.  Failures identify opportunities for growth and invite flexibility in your plan.  This year, I've achieved some of my goals, changed a few others and failed at a good bunch.

If you're hitting all of your goals, you may be having an awesome year or it might be a sign that you've set the bar too low.  If you're hitting none of your goals, then the goals you've set might be slightly unrealistic.  Find the sweet spot on the outer edge of your comfort zone.  This is the place where you begin to grow.  Keep pushing your limits.

After you've reviewed and celebrated 2013, spend time ...

... projecting forward.

Now that you have another year's worth of knowledge and experience, what do you want 2014 to look like?

What do you hope to accomplish?  What do you want to stop doing?  How are your 2014 goals aligned with your personal mission in life?

Take this time to mentally visualize what you want your next year to look like.  Get specific and observe how you are going to execute your plan and note the sacrifices you'll be making to get you there.

As you move from the past to the future, don't forget the importance of ...

... staying present.

Acknowledge that you're consciously taking the time to analyze your past and plan your future.  If you are not present during this process, you put yourself at risk.

It's easy to reminisce for too long - patting yourself on the back for your accomplishments or kicking yourself for what you didn't do.  At the same time, it can be enticing to stay in the future - fueled by the euphoria of dreams or the paralysis of worry.

To prevent this, set trip wires for yourself to stay present.  This may be in the form of regularly scheduled meditation or a periodic alarm that will remind you to be aware of what is happening in the moment.

Whether you believe it or not, you've had a great year being you.  You've just learned another year's worth of valuable information about yourself.  If you don't feel that way, make it a goal in 2014 to be more self observant throughout the year.  Note what you're doing and what you're not doing that gives you the results you like and continuing experimenting to find the best strategies that work for you.

Share with us your 2014 goals in the comment section below.  It'll be a good way to keep yourself accountable and inspire others.  Also, you can review your goals periodically to see how you're doing.

Thank you for taking this journey with me this past year.

Have a happy new year!

The post Look Back, Project Forward, and Stay Present appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

If you haven't read Part 1 - Setting Proper Goals or Part 2 - Creating an Effective Plan or both, I recommend that you read them before moving on.

By now, you should have a proper goal set and a plan to achieve that goal. If you don't, I encourage you to take some time do that now.

With your properly set goal and well thought out plan, you are finally at the point where your dreams will become reality but before you get what you want, there is one thing you must do:

Take Action

This is both simple and difficult. Simple because you just follow your plan. Difficult because so many things get in the way. The key thing to remember is without action, your dreams will stay dreams. Even though thoughts, ideas and plans are necessary, without doing anything, you would not realize your dream. Your ideas will remain ideas and your plans will remain plans.

So what can possibly get in the way between you and your goals:

Not Having Enough Time

You already have a busy schedule. Work is unpredictable and sometimes it is just too tiring to work on your goals after a long day's work.

How can anyone blame you for wanting to just relax?

Rest is important right?

If you set a goal that is relevant, broke your goal down to daily tasks and tested your plan's feasibility, you really shouldn't be having this problem.

If you do have this problem, there is one fix:

Make Time for Your Plan

Carve out a specific time each day to work on your plan. Make sure to give yourself some extra time. In the beginning, take the energy you would normally spend to make excuses and channel it into doing your plan at the specified time. Once you've built the good habit, things become easier.

Waiting for the Right Time

It's never going to be the right time. Get over it.

Be flexible enough to make adjustments along the way. Think homing missile.

This also goes for waiting for the right people.

Ready, Fire, Aim.

Procrastinating

"Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." -Spanish Proverb

For some reason, it's easy for us to put things off until tomorrow. For every reason to do something now, I can come up with ten reasons why I should do it later. Maybe it's laziness that stems from a incompetence or stress from being overwhelmed by uncertainty but whatever the reason, procrastination is the enemy of execution.

A nice fix against procrastination is:

Just getting up and doing it. (The long version of the Nike slogan)

For those interested in going in-depth into the reasons for procrastination and how to overcome it, check out Steve Pavlina's article. For a shorter and more hands-on guide, check out The 8 Most Practical Ways to Stop Procrastinating.

Not Knowing What to Do First

Different tasks take different priorities at different times.

Be clear on what should be done FIRST and do that thing FIRST.

As you are executing your plan, you may find that you lose sight of what your top priority is. When that happens, think about the outcome you want to achieve and make sure that your current daily task reflect the most important actions that will help achieve that outcome. If you have trouble deciding, try out one of these prioritization methods. For those of you find it hard to prioritize because everything seems important, check out this lifehacker article.

Losing Interest

How many dreams have been abandoned because interest was lost during execution?

It is always exciting to think about the possibilities of achieving your goals and the rewards after you fulfill your dreams but what should you do when you begin to get bored before you reach the finish line?

Revisit Your WHY Often Through Mental Rehearsal.

When you set your goals, you made sure that your goal was relevant to your vision and purpose. Mental rehearse what it will be like to achieve your goal. Engage all the senses. What will you see? hear? feel?

Now check to make sure that you are doing the task that will have the biggest impact in achieving that vivid outcome. Extrapolate your action into the future. Will you get what you want if you keep doing what you're doing?

Another point to keep in mind is that some people lose interest when they begin to lose faith. When they don't think they can achieve their goals, their interests wanes. If you are having a faith issue, read How to Always Achieve Your Goals.

A Bonus!

I mentioned this in Part One already but it is worth emphasizing.

The difference that is going to make all the difference is ...

... get a pen and paper ready because this is important ...

Tracking Your Progress in Writing

In addition to tracking your daily progress (here is a free online habit tracker), ask yourself on a weekly basis:

1. Am I able to work towards my goal daily? If not, what is getting in my way?

2. Is the goal still relevant to my vision and purpose? How is it relevant? Is it still the most impactful thing I can be doing to realize my vision?

3. Am I getting the outcome that I want from completing this goal?

Write those answers down.

Once you reach your goal (notice that I use "once" and not "if"), reward yourself.

Take time to recognize and appreciate yourself for going for and getting what you want.

This memory can serve to motivate you in future endeavors. Take time to review your lessons learned so you can achieve future goals more effectively.

You now have the basic framework you need to turn your dreams into reality and get anything that you want. Feel free to share your goals, plans and progress. I would love to hear how you do.

I hope you enjoyed this series!

The post Focused Execution – How to Turn Dreams into Reality – Part 3 appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

But why don't we pursue them?

Why do we go on doing what we don't like to do just because we're supposed to?

Why don't we do what we really want like travel the world, start our own business or write that book we've tried to find time for?

Is it because it's not realistic, practical or feasible?

The short answer is ...

... no.

The long answer is no, but we are frozen by doubt in our abilities and we fear the consequences of failing and being wrong.

If you are not convinced that you can achieve your dream, I recommend that you take 5 minutes to empower yourself forever and then continue reading.

If you are afraid of risk, then you should also read this short article on why it is risky to be stable.

When you are ready to turn your dreams into reality, read on.

Most people fail to achieve their dreams because of four reasons:

1. They don't believe they can (If you took those 5 minutes to empower yourself earlier, you should be ok.)

2. They set poor goals

3. They don't have a plan

4. They don't execute their plan

Reason 2 is the focus of this part. Reason 3 and 4 will be addressed in later parts of this series.

So how do you set proper goals?

Be Specific

Your goal must be clear and more importantly measurable. How will you know when you've reached your goal? Engage all your senses. What are you going to see when you've reached your goal? How will you feel? What will you hear? You should be able to vividly imagine yourself reaching this goal. When setting goals, it is more important to focus on WHAT you want and not HOW you are going to get it.

State in the Positive

If you've ever told yourself not to screw up but you ended up screwing up anyway, then you know why you should state your goals in the positive. Our subconscious has problems recognizing the word "don't" and that's why "Don't Panic!" is the same as "Panic!". Whether you believe in the subconscious or not, it is more beneficial to you to set a goal like "I want to make money in my investments" as opposed to "I don't want to lose money in my investments". For more on this topic, check out Why Telling Yourself to Stop Bad Habits Never Work.

Make It Relevant

Make sure your goal is aligned with your purpose and passion. When your goal is relevant it becomes easier to stick to your goals. An effective method I learned from Tony Robbins is to first understand WHY you want to achieve your goal and then associate reaching your goal with intense pleasure and not reaching your goal with intense pain. This towards and away from motivation really works wonders.

Set a Deadline

When you set a deadline, a dream becomes a goal. To effectively achieve your goal, it is important to break down your goal into smaller chunks where each chunk can be finished within one week. For example, if your dream was to visit Nepal within one year, your chunks would be to research flights and hotel in Nepal, calculate how much you need to save per month, apply for a visa, etc.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step."

- Lao Tzu

Make Sure Its Attainable

Any goal is achievable if given enough time. With that said, make sure that your goal is attainable within the time restriction that you've set. The goal should be a "reach". It should not be so easy where success is guaranteed without much work but it should also not be too difficult where you are overwhelmed and success is borderline impossible.

There is one more thing you need to do that is vital to achieving your goal ...

... and I am not referring to How to Always Achieve Your Goals (although it is worth reading if you haven't done so already)

The one thing you MUST do that will make all the difference is ...

Writing Your Goal Down

I wish I could show you statistics for goals achieved when comparing those who write their goals down and those that don't because I am sure it would be staggering.

Before you do anything else and if you haven't already, I strongly encourage you to set a proper goal right now. It'll take at 3-5 minutes.

Just follow these simple steps:

1. Think of one thing you really want to achieve within one year.

2. Make sure it is specific, stated in the positive and measurable. How will you know that you've achieved it? How will you measure it?

3. Write down WHY you want to achieve this goal and make sure you understand how it fits in your life's purpose. Clearly list the pleasure you'll receive from attaining your goal and the pain you'll get if you don't achieve it.

4. Set a reasonable deadline for achieving your goal.

5. WRITE DOWN your specific goal, why you're going for this goal in particular and when you expect to achieve it. Keep it where it is visible every day.

6. You now have a properly set goal. All you have to do is create an effective plan (Part 2) then successfully execute (Part 3).

To help you move one step closer to your dream, I will review your goal to make sure it is a proper goal. All you have to do is share your goal in the comments section.

The post Proper Goal Setting – How to Turn Dreams Into Reality – Part 1 appeared first on Embrace Possibility.